Boil the milk and let it cool down to 110 to 120 degree. You can use a candy thermometer to check the temperature, if the milk gets too hot it kills the bacteria in the culture.

After milk cools down pour the milk into a bowl that you want to make the yogurt in.

Add 2 tablespoons of yogurt from previously home made yogurt or use the dry yogurt starter. Package will tell you how much dry starter to use. Don’t follow the other directions from the dry starter package.

Mix the yogurt with milk by stirring gently.

Cover the bowl with a light blanket or folded sheet, and keep it in warm place for about 4 hours.

After yogurt is set, refrigerate for at least an hour before using.

Tips

If you prefer more creamy mix ¼ of half & half milk or boil the full milk for about 5 minutes longer to reduce the milk in volume to give more creamy texture to the yogurt.

I have tried using starters from many store bought yogurt including organic or Greek yogurt, and they don’t work. I think because store bought yogurt has many artificial additives.

Store bought yogurt is more firm because of the pectin.

Yogurt can be made using 1%, 2% or full milk and full milk yogurt will have more body to it.

There are two ways to make yoghurt creamier. 1) With 3 cups of milk use 1 cup of half & half milk OR 2) boil the full milk for about 5 minutes longer to reduce the milk in volume to give more creamy texture to the yogurt.

Someone told me to beat the curd starter well , before adding milk to it. About 1 tsp of curd ( well whisked) + 1 litre of Luke warm ( not hot nor at room temperature) . Keep it wrapped in an old woollen sweater in winters. Result is always , a very tight set curd.

If store bought yoghurts are used as a starter – I recommend buying ‘Full Fat Organic Plain Yoghurt’. I tend to use them as starters and it works out beautifully. I tend to stay away from Plain Greek yoghurt as a starter. That doesn’t work. Brands like ‘Trader Joe’s Whole Plain yoghurt’ or ‘Wallaby plain yoghurt work very well.

Manjulaji, I love your site and your hard work. I recently tried Strauss Organic yogurt (full fat) and I could get the yogurt started from that culture. Its the only store bought yogurt that worked for me. Hope this helps.

Thank you for sharing your yogurt recipe. I have made it in the past now I want to go back to making my own again. My middle eastern friends seem to never run out of yogurt (smile). It’s like second nature to them. You make it seem so easy…Thanks Ayesha

Manjula ji, hugs kisses to you!!! I love you! I got confidence to cook from your site. And today thanks to you, I can cook. God bless you with a long life and many many more recipes. when is your birthday Manjula ji??

There are two ways to make yoghurt creamier. 1) With 3 cups of milk
use 1 cup of half & half milk OR 2) boil the full milk for about 5 minutes longer to reduce the milk in volume to give more creamy texture to the yogurt.
sorry
i didn’t understand 3 cups and half
i add 1 cup more

The way to make yogurt creamier without boiling it for a longer time, etc etc, is to get a cheese cloth. After the yogurt is done, put the yogurt in a cheese cloth bag and let it drain in your refrigerator till a lot of the liquid is gone (2-4 hours). Then it will be thick and creamy.

Hi Ma”am. I am a regular viewer of your site & i am receiving your mails too,thanks for it. Ma”‘am i was just surfing your site for some recipe related to Janmashtami when i came across this recipe of making yogurt.In this context i want to know as to what is Dry Yogurt Starter{hindi name of it} and where can i get in Delhi. Secondly,for knowing the temperature of warm milk you have mentioned Candy Thermometer.Now what is this ?and from where can i get this thermometer?how does it look like?Hope you will give reply of this mail and solve my queries.
Thanks.

A candy thermometer, also known as a sugar thermometer, is a cooking thermometer used to measure the temperature and therefore the stage of a cooking sugar solution. (See Candy making for a description of sugar stages.) These thermometers can also be used to measure hot oil for deep frying.

You really can use store-bought yogurt for the starter; that’s all I have ever used. You just have to be careful to check the ingredients list and make sure that it says “Contains active bacterial cultures”. If it does not contain active cultures then it will not start a new batch of yogurt.

I agree. I have only used store bought plain yogurt and it has always worked a 100%. I’ve been making you hurt for the past 7 years now and never have I failed. I must say that I leave it for 8 hr overnight . I use the Yogourmet Electric Yogurt Maker. Just add some warm water put your yogurt container in and plug it in. It is as simple as that. No messing around with blankets n sheets.

I live in Jamaica and still find your website helpful. I recently became a vereterian and am trying to stay away from animal products so I only use natural milks like coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk ect. Can I use any of these milks to make this recipe?

I always warm my oven on 300 degrees for 5 minutes than place this curd mixture in it … 100% your curd will not go bad , secondly don’t use a steel utensil , use clay pot or plastic .. Darkness and warmth helps in making good curd ..

I have tried a number of your recipes and enjoyed them very much. However yesterday I made dahi which just did not set. Can you suggest what we can do with the unset dahi? How can it be used again/
Thanks

Hi Aunty,
Can you tell me how long it will stay good in the refrigerator? Also, how long will the two tbsp of starter you reserved will last in the refrigerator? I know it sounds like the same question, but there may be a difference.

Thank you in advance for your response, and thank you for this lovely recipe, I can’t wait to try it.

i live in china. i have just started reading your website and it is very interesting. i love to cook but i do not have a knowledge about cooking. yesterday i made yogurt as written in your website and i used to do same in siliguri india in my laws home, it worked but why it did not work here. i did the same and put it into wheat box but without a blanket. right now here is very cold. so please help me to make yogurt.

Vanakkam, Mrs. Manjula I the curd (yogurt) the way U said but I did not have the starter instead I got some sample yogurt from a Punjabi restaurant, and it came out excellant. I really enjoyed the taste of original indian curd. Thank you for your kind recipe.
Francina amaldas,
Hesperia, CA,

I checked in amazon.com and found many brands for dry yogurt starter. Can you please let me know which brand you used so I can order the same? And all your recipes are really great and very easy to understand and make. Thanks a ton! 🙂

this did not work at all. i did not have a dry starter and used the 2tbsp of yoghurt to make the new yoghurt, but after about 4 hours nothing happened, it was just as liquid as the milk. very dissapointing. i left it in for about a day and still nothing.

First, I would like to say thank you for all the great recipe you have provided us. I visit your website almost everyday. I really like this recipe, since everyone in my family eats yogurt I will love to make it. I just have one question, where can I find dry yogurt starter, I live in Virginia.

halo mdm manjula,
u have very big hearted to share all your recipes to the world. thank you so much. i’ve try afew recipe from here and it turn out well. you’re so generous. here i wanted to ask to make the yogurt and paneer which milk suppose to use? isit cow milk or powder milk? Thank you again mdm Manjula. God Bless u always!! Looking for your reply.

Hello, Manjula!!
I enjoy your program and I make your recipes they’re deliciuos!!
Thank you!
By the way microwave ovens are not good to use because they destroy
the nutrients, they’re as many modern inventions never tried before and even if they did, is money making, like cell phones that is known to cause brain tumors, and they’re still being used.
Namaste

Dear Baji,
i m very happy to see and this all really help me a lot,
i just wana ask, how long yogurt starter can keep?
i had try the powder milk for make the yogurt and that is really works more better then fresh milk, cause where i m living very hard to get the fresh milk,
thanks a lot for help us to cook at home when we are away from our own country….

Namaste aunty, this recipe looks very good, thank you for sharing! I had a few questions, we usually make dahi with the 2 tablespoons of old starter, and I dont really like the tart taste. Is there any way that we can add some sugar, or sweetner to cut the sour flavor? I dont want to make dahi, and then have the sugar mess it up. I figured you would know. And I also wanted to know, to make it thicker, can we strain it in cheesecloth? And also, Im sure you have seen the yoplait whips yogurt mousse. Do you know if there is a way how to make that? Thank you so much!

Testimonials

Thank you so much Manjula! I made a very yummy (nut free) Ras Malai a while back, I never thought I could do it. Now I am addicted to your recipes and easy to follow videos. Thank you for helping me learn how to cook my favorite foods! You are wonderful! Namaste-Kate-Ashley S.